Rapid Alert System for dangerous products 2017

The European Commission presented on 12 March its latest report on the Rapid Alert System for dangerous products.

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What is the Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products?

The European Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products is a
building block of the Single Market. It ensures that information about
unsafe products withdrawn from the market and/or recalled from consumers
anywhere in Europe is quickly circulated between Member States and the
European Commission, so that appropriate action can be taken everywhere
in the EU. Thirty-one countries (EU Member States together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) participate in the system.

The system was established by the General Product Safety Directive and became fully operational in 2004.

The most common measures are: ban/stop on sales; withdrawal of a
dangerous product from the market or recall from consumers; and import
rejection by the customs authorities.

What is covered by this alert system?

The system records measures taken against unsafe, non-food, consumer products(e.g.
toys, cosmetic products, clothing, childcare products) as well as
professional products (e.g. machinery, lorries), that pose a serious
risk to the health and safety of citizens and to the environment.

Pharmaceutical products, medical devices and food and feed are
excluded from the scope of this Rapid Alert System as they are covered
by their own specific alert systems.

What is the role of national authorities in the system?

The role of national authorities is to ensure that businesses respect
their obligation to place only safe products on the market.

In case unsafe products are offered for sale or detected on the
market, these products must be removed or banned. To ensure that these
measures are also known by the other European countries and are swiftly
followed Europe-wide, this information is circulated via the Rapid Alert
System. This is done via designated national Contact Points that
coordinate the information exchange at national level. Alerts submitted
are validated by the Commission and rapidly circulated to the
participating countries for appropriate action. The results of these
follow-up activities are reported back through the system.

What is expected from businesses?

Once aware that a product is dangerous, producers, importers or
distributors must immediately take the necessary action to correct this
situation and cooperate with national market surveillance authorities.
To facilitate compliance with the requirement, a new, user-friendly IT
tool called "Product Safety Business Alert Gateway" can be used by the
companies. It replaces the old "GPSD Business Application" tool.

Analysis of the activities related to the Rapid Alert System

What were the most significant developments in 2017?

The Rapid Alert System for non-food, dangerous products has
registered a fairly stable number of alerts over the last few years. In
2017, the number of notifications of consumer products posing a risk to
health and safety was 2,201, a slight increase compared with last year,
when it was 2,044. A total of 3 952 follow-up measures were recorded.
Last year these amounted to 4,015 (values including all risks and
professional products).

Which EU countries sent the most alerts?

In 2017, all participating countries, except Liechtenstein, notified
measures taken against unsafe products. The 3 countries which submitted
the most alerts were:

Germany

16%

(354 alerts)

Spain

10%

(222 alerts)

France

9%

(191 alerts)

What does it show when a country sends many notifications – is that there are more dangerous products on that particular market?

The number of notifications sent by a particular Member State to the
Rapid Alert System cannot be directly linked to the level of safety of
the products on its market. There may be many reasons why some Member
States send more alerts than others: large market, large import volumes,
experienced inspectors, etc. In general, the European countries which
have the biggest markets and the greatest number of imported goods, and
which also have the highest number of inspectors, find more unsafe goods
and thus send alerts through the Rapid Alert System more often than
smaller countries.

What were the main products and risks identified in 2017?

The product categories most often notified were:

Toys

29%

(636 alerts)

Motor vehicles

20%

(436 alerts )

Clothing, textiles and fashion items

12%

(258 alerts )

Electrical appliances and equipment

6%

(145 alerts

Childcare articles and equipment

5%

(109 alerts)

This distribution also shows a relatively stable pattern of product
categories for which notifications have been made compared to the
previous years.

This similar and recurring pattern can be explained by the high
volume of consumption/supply of the above five categories (e.g.
electrical appliances include mobile phones, laptops, extension leads,
battery chargers), and this increases the chances of finding unsafe
products.

The five most frequently notified risk categories were:

Injuries

28 %

(682 alerts)

Chemical

22 %

(544 alerts)

Choking

17 %

(410 alerts)

Electric shock

10 %

(253 alerts)

Fire

6 %

(148 alerts)

Where did the largest amount of unsafe products originate from in 2017?

The majority of unsafe products notified in the system came from
outside the EU. China (including Hong Kong) was the country of origin in
53% (1167) of alerts, the same percentage as that registered last year.

Unsafe products of European origin accounted for 574 alerts (26%), up from 23% in 2016.

Why are alerts concerning products with European origin increasing?

The percentage of alerts concerning Chinese products has stabilized
since last year. However, alerts concerning motor vehicles have
increased since last year, which has had a strong impact on the
statistics. More alerts of motor vehicles means the risks linked to this
category (injuries, fire) form a larger part of the total number of
alerts and the share of countries producing these motor vehicles occupy a
larger part compared to other countries. Most of such motor vehicles
were of European origin.

How does the Commission cooperate with China on product safety issues?

The European Commission has an established, regular cooperation with
the Chinese authorities on product safety issues. This includes, since
2006, a systematic exchange with the Chinese authorities, through a
specific IT module called "RAPEX-China", on information related to
alerts concerning unsafe products of Chinese origin detected by EU
Member States. The Chinese authorities investigate the information
received and the results and follow-up actions taken in China are
reported back to the European Commission.

In the framework of the regular political dialogue with China,
Commissioner Jourova met with her Chinese and US counterparts at the
Trilateral Product Safety Summit in Beijing in 2017 to reinforce
cooperation on product safety matters, with particular emphasis on the
safety of products sold online.